Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari: It’s hard to tell how the audience will respond

Though director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari remains tight-lipped about her yet-to-be-titled film, she is certain about not approaching it with any kind of baggage. For her, it's hard to predict audience reaction.

The popularity of Bareilly Ki Barfi surprised Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari but the director does not want the baggage of its success to overshadow her future work. Ashwiny, whose first film Nil Battey Sannata (2016) also received a great response from the audience, has already moved on to her next project, based on kabaddi. Though the director remains tight-lipped about the yet- untitled film, she is certain about not approaching it with any kind of baggage.

“I have never done that. When Nil Battey… happened people thought I would make a women-oriented film again but Bareilly… happened. Similarly, I am trying to explore and challenge myself with different kinds of ideas, which even the audience will enjoy watching,” she told PTI in an interview. While it is hard to tell how the audience will respond to a particular story, Ashwiny believes a director can gauge where a film is going in the first week of the shoot.

“Most of the times, in your first week of the film’s shooting, when the rushes come in and you see it at the edit table, you already know ‘aap kitne paani may ho’ (where your film is heading). In your first week, it becomes clear,” says Ashwiny. The director says some of the sweetest praise for ‘Barreily…’ came from those who compared it Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Sai Paranjpye brand of cinema.

“Ayushmann (Khurrana, one of the lead actors) was described as the Indian Woody Allen post the release. But audiences did talk about getting the feel of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukerjee with the slice-of-life comic tone. Someone even wrote that we have a new Sai Paranjpye born! All this was extremely sweet.”The film, which also starred Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon, is gearing up for its world TV premiere on Zee Cinema on November 19.